cape-o-coat pt.1

So sad to lose the Comme des Garçons dress on ebay which went for a whooping 168 €, and oops I wasn’t prepared to pay as much. I did get away with the CDG jacket though, it has a tailcoat shape and slashed sleeves, but more on that later.
In grief of seeing the figures rise dramatically, I had to keep my hands busy and away from the refresh button, so came along the idea of a cape-o-coat.
Remember this one from the MMM winter ‘07?

This is the image I had in mind minus the exaggerated shoulders, so that the figure is straight and square, not inverted. A bit more like this one from Jil Sander winter ‘07 season.



1. Start with a roomy batwing coat of medium length as a base. Mine was size 42 when the size I really wear is 36, so I had enough fabric for cutting and eventually for the freedom of movement.


2. Lay it flat, close the buttons, make sure all pleats are neatly folded, pin them if necessary, otherwise you’ll end up with wobbling and pulling seams. Draw a line from the shoulder to the waist. Do not forget 1,5 cm for the seams. Cut the sleeves off. Don’t throw the sleeves away, you’ll need them in step 7.

3. This is the detail showing how I drew a line in blue dressmaker’s chalk, pinned the fabric in place and cut.

4. Turn the coat inside-out, pin the outer shell fabric together (you’ll close the lining later) and stitch to close the holes. Repeat on both sides.

5. When the job is done – this is how the cape will look like.

So tonight I made myself a shape of the cape and tomorrow evening I’ll be making the openings for the arms, so check back soon for the following steps and the result.